Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam (born December 18th, 1970) is an American born professional wrestler. He is currently working in TNA and is notable for being the inaugural TNA World Champion. TNA Champion Van Dam entered the first new edition of TNA iMPACT! with the TNA World Championship. He retained it against Ric Flair in a TLC Match to solidify himself as the first TNA World Champ. On the November 10th edition of iMPACT, Samoa Joe defeated Van Dam in a non-title match, earning Joe a title shot at the Chad Ochocinco Memorial Show. This title match would never happen as Joe suffered a real-life hand injury taking him out of action for two months. On the TNA iMPACT! before the PPV, Van Dam's friend Rhino returned to TNA and in a surprising move power bombed RVD into a table, saying he was coming for the world title. This led Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff to book a ladder match between the two at the event for the World Title. Van Dam retained his title at the event, emerging victorious over Rhino. On the iMPACT! after the show, Rhino apologized to Van Dam and shook his hand, ending the feud unusually early. On the same show, Scott Hall faced Van Dam in a non title match where if Hall won, he got a world title match. Hall would win by DQ after an attack from Hall's rivals, the New New World Order, ended the match. On the December 8th edition of iMPACT!, Hall and Van Dam had a confrontation backstage but the NNWO attacked both men. On the same show, Hall and Van Dam lost a tag team match to Titus O' Neil and Bryon Saxton of the NNWO thanks to miscommunication, furthering the feud. At the Christmas Hallocaust PPV, Hall cashed in his TNA title opportunity and beat Van Dam in a TLC match. Beginning of 2011 On the December 29th edition of iMPACT!, Hall faced Van Dam, Nash, and Jay Lethal in a two fall match, where the first fall would be for the the X-Division Title and the second fall would be for the TNA World Title. Lethal pinned Hall to win the X-Division title, but Hall pinned Lethal to retain the TNA title. This ended Hall's TNA X-Divison title reign at only 4 days. On the January 5th edition of iMPACT, RVD competed in a 10 man battle royal for the #1 contendership for the TNA title but would be eliminated 3rd to last after being dropkicked over the top rope by one half of the tag team champions, AJ Styles. The next week, Van Dam would call out Styles, to no response. Van Dam would be sneak attacked by Styles and his tag team partner Tyson Tomko the following week backstage while Van Dam was warming up. A match was made for the Victoria Justice Memorial Show PPV which resulted in a double countout. A rematch was made on the next show that saw Styles cheat to win thanks to interference from Tomko. However, Rhino came out to even the odds and make the save for his friend. This set up a third falls count anywhere match at WWE.com/news/benoitdead where both Rhino and Tomko were banned from ringside. On the January 30th edition of TNA FCW, Van Dam pinned Abraham Washington to win the TNA Hardcore Title, his second singles title in TNA. On the Feburary 6th TNA FCW, Rhino and RVD unsuccessfully challenged The Christian Coalition (Styles and Tomko) for their tag titles. After the match, Christian Coalition beat down Van Dam, which led to Kevin Hogan coming out and pinning Van Dam to take his Hardcore title. However, Van Dam defeated Styles at WWE.com/news/benoitdead to conclude the feud. Various Feuds in mid to late 2011 The TNA FCW after the PPV, Van Dam would announce he was taking a short break to heal a minor injury he sustained on the February 6th match against Christian Coalition. Van Dam returned at the PPV DaddyChris.mov.exe, defeating Homicide in a #1 contenders match for the TNA X-Division Championship,held by his Van Dam's friend, Jeff Hardy. The following show, Hardy turned heel by Swanton Bombing Van Dam's favorite bong. Van Dam promised revenge for Hardy ruining his bong, and came out with an imposter Jeff Hardy and beat him up to show what he was going to do at Wrestlemania 9, the next PPV. At the event, Rob Van Dam attempted to hit a coast to coast but he fell too short and landed on his ass, setting him up for a Swanton bomb and the 1-2-3 from Hardy. After the match, they shook hands, turning Hardy back to a face. The following TNA FCW, Van Dam faced Kurt Angle in a losing effort. On the following show, they had a rematch which saw Van Dam shooting star press Angle for a victory. Angle challenged Van Dam to have a third match at Wrestlemania 4 to see who was the better man. This match would also have a #1 contendership for the WE ON DAT ULTRALIGHT BEAM title on the line. Angle would win the match via submission. On the May 29th TNA FCW, Van Dam would participate in a 30 man battle royal for Kevin Nash's TNA Championship. Van Dam would eliminate Jay Lethal and Yung Thug Richard but was taken out by Byron Saxton when Richard came back in and knocked out Van Dam. On the June 4th TNA FCW, Van Dam faced Richard for his TNA Universal Title. Van Dam won by DQ after BROWNTOWN attacked him. On the next show, Richard and his tag partner Black Meanie were shown stalking AJ Lee. Van Dam made the save when he came in, smashed his bong over Meanie's head, and powerbombed Richard onto concrete.T This allowed the feud to transition from RVD/ YTR to RVD vs the Black World Order. On the June 19th FCW, Van Dam beat Black Meanie and a match was made at TNA Slamiversary where Van Dam would fight against Richard for his TNA Universal title. At the end, Van Dam won the gold thanks to botched interference from BROWNTOWN. The feud would continue when Van Dam helped his former enemy AJ Styles and AJ's rival Tajiri beat the Black World Order for the TNA Tag Team Championships. Richard and Meanie would retaliate by interfering in a Universal title defense against Kurt Angle, costing Van Dam the title and ending his reign at 21 days. This set up a match between Black Meanie and Rob Van Dam for Meanie's TNA Cruiserweight Championship that he never defended. At Limp Bizkit Reunion Tour, Van Dam would beat Meanie in a strap match for the cruiserweight belt, ending Meanie's reign at 49 days. The next week, the Black World Order would defeat Van Dam in a two on one handicap match. At TNA XD, Van Dam would face Meanie in a rematch where Richard was banned from ringside. Van Dam got the win via Coast to Coast to end the feud. Van Dam would have successful defenses against wrestlers Alex Riley (on the August 15th show) and Titus O' Neil (on the August 22nd show), but a triple threat against Scooby Duhop and Robert Roobert saw Duhop pin Roobert to take Van Dam's title. At TNA Sacrifice, Duhop faced Jeff Hardy and Van Dam in a triangle TLC match that saw Hardy take the gold. On the first episode of The Cleveland Show (September 19th), Van Dam faced Hardy in a 15 minute iron man match for the title. Tied 0 falls each with 1 minute left, Hardy hit a swanton bomb but time expired before he could get the pin. Hardy hit a twist of fate 2:23 into overtime to get the win and retain the title. With a 97% match rating, this is considered the greatest match in TNA history. Following the defeat, Van Dam would take some time off from TNA, including missing TNA Bound for Glory. Championships and Acomplishments 1x TNA World Champion - Reign 1: 54 days 1x TNA Universal Champion - Reign 1: 21 days 1x TNA Cruiserweight Champion - Reign 1: 51 days 1x TNA Hardcore Champion - Reign 1: 7 days In Wrestling Finishing Moves * 5 Star Frog Splash (Top Rope Splash) * Coast to Coast (Top Rope dropkick to opponent seated in opposite corner) * Rolling Thunder Variations (Senton or Splash) * Van Terminator (Spinning Heel Kick) Entrance Themes * "The Whole F'n Show!" by Kushinator (November 1st, 2010-)